Where is the Fun?

We are always getting ready to live, but never living. - Ralph Waldo Emerson


Here's one thing I know for certain: life does not happen between diets. It happens all the time. I have a friend who is always telling me, "I'll wear the cute shoes when I've lost a few pounds." "I'll stop wearing ugly clothes when I'm down to my goal weight." What I hear is that she doesn't think she's worthy to have fun or be cute unless she's at her perfect weight. This makes me very sad.

I just want you to know that you look super cute right now. You look adorable when you smile! You look wonderful when your heart is happy and your soul is at ease.

And I think it is important to point out that there is not a single outfit darling enough to hide when we are self-hating, self-loathing, self-effacing, or unhappy.

So I've decided to get happy. I've decided to put on the cute clothes and buy the awesome shoes (although I recently found a beautiful pair of shoes that I literally could not walk in because my center of balance was off--a side-effect of being overweight), put on the great jewelery and the sparkly eye-shadow. And if you just don't feel comfortable being as fabulous as possible, then it's time to work on the insides.

Here's what I do for my insides--and the recipe has to be repeated daily:
1) exercise until I sweat (except on Sundays where I practically fall into a coma),
2) read something uplifting...a quote, some scriptures, a book...
3) pray/talk to my Heavenly Father for 5 to 15 minutes (I always feel better after I do this--it helps me see myself how He sees me).
4) meditate or pause for quiet time of 1 minute or more,
5) make a gratitude list of any length,
6) do something kind or thoughtful for someone else, preferably without pointing it out to anyone!
7) write.
8) review my day asking if I need to apologize or make any amends, and then quickly make the amends
9) identify any feelings that I can't put a name on.
10) report to someone (God, a friend, spouse, letter) about my "state" of being.

It seems like a lot, but it is worth it, because I love cute shoes and bags and I especially love sparkly eye-shadow.

Let's stop planning and just ENJOY!